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Stroud International Textiles Festival - thoughts

While things are fresh in my mind, I thought a few ideas about Stroud might be in order.

It is well worth going and spending time at the Festival. There are many talks and workshops, and amazing things to see. You will meet lots of makers and have some great chats with interesting people.

Think about hiring a car as some of the venues are outside town and it would be a shame to miss the shows and events. One of the things we really enjoyed was going out to the countryside and seeing the beautiful surroundings on our way to a venue.

Stay in a B&B where you will meet other makers. We spent our time with Pamela and James just outside town, along one of the most terrifying roads I have ever driven on! It was a really good experience, with hospitable hosts and one other guest who had come to Stroud to see the Festival. Good contact for us as our fellow visitor had been to Shetland and is planning a return trip.

Take time to really see everything. We had three full days and the first we spent as a look-see day. The second was a more in-depth look at the Festival and the third we spent having chats to people that we really wanted to meet. It was a good way to do the event as we could take time to explore and find where things were, and then plan and prepare for meeting others.